Make Something Because You Like It

Not everything you make needs a reason.

As adults, we seem to want a reason for everything.

If we're going to spend time making something, we want to know what it's for.

Will I hang it on the wall?

Will I give it to someone?

Is it worth keeping?

Is it good enough to share?

Sometimes we even decide what we're making before we've picked up the first piece of paper or put down the first brushstroke.

But creativity doesn't always need a destination.

Sometimes you can choose a color simply because you love it.

You can tear up a piece of painted paper because you like the edges.

You can stitch little marks across a scrap of fabric because you enjoy the rhythm of it.

You can put pink next to orange just because seeing those colors together makes you happy.

That's enough.

I've made plenty of things without knowing what they would become. Sometimes they turn into something I love. Sometimes they lead me somewhere completely unexpected. And sometimes they remain nothing more than a few interesting marks or scraps of paper on my table.

I'm learning to let that be enough, too.

When everything we make has to become something, creativity can start to feel a lot like work.

We begin judging our choices before we've had a chance to explore them.

Does this look right?

What am I making?

What am I going to do with this?

But when there's no particular goal, we're free to follow what interests us.

A color.

A shape.

A texture.

A line.

One choice leads to another, and instead of trying to make something good, we're simply discovering what we like.

That kind of making may not produce anything you want to frame or keep.

But it does something else.

It helps you discover your own creative preferences.

You begin to notice the colors you're drawn to. The marks you make again and again. The materials you love touching. The combinations that make you stop and look.

Little by little, those choices become part of your creative voice.

And it can start with something as simple as:

I like this.

No other reason required.

An Invitation

Choose something today simply because you like it.

A color. A piece of paper. A pen. A scrap of fabric. A bit of thread.

Don't decide what you're going to make.

Spend ten minutes following whatever catches your attention.

Add something because you like it.

Take something away because you don't.

And when you find yourself wondering what it's supposed to become, see if you

can replace that question with a much simpler one:

Do I like what I'm doing right now?

If the answer is yes, keep going.